Hi Leigh! I love your books! I've been reading a lot of articles about male YA authors being treated better then female YA authors and Males having more opportunities and such and I was wondering for a kind of article I'm writing: What are ther perks of be

Hi,

Thanks for the kind words on the books and the interesting question.

I saw Maureen Johnson’s excellent reply to you, and I feel like she hit all of the points better than I could.

So I’m going to interpret your question slightly differently (and perhaps wrongly) and try to answer this: Are there perks that female authors enjoy that male authors do not?

Honestly? The only concrete perk that springs to mind is group tours. They’re fun, draw nice crowds, and allow for great crossover. Thus far, I think they’ve been all female—though it’s completely possible that I’m just unaware of tours that like to mix it up. 

This leads me to a less quantifiable perk: camaraderie. There are a lot of wonderful women writing YA and I get to hang out with them—definite perk. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy spending time with the gents of YA. I do! But I’ve had more opportunities to bond with lady authors on tours and retreats, and while rooming with them at festivals and conventions.

I guess I’d also say that, at its best, the culture that has grown up around YA fandoms embraces female enthusiasm in a really positive way—and in a way that I don’t see many other places. It’s a culture that lets women and girls express attraction and pleasure and feels without shame. I love being part of that as a female reader and as a female author.

Hope that helps and best of luck with your article!